Garment having an expandable waist

ABSTRACT

An expandable waist construction is disclosed herein for a garment such as a pant, trouser, skirt, or the like which includes a waistband having an elongated section joining the opposite ends of the band and a folded or cut portion joining the opposite edges of the main body of the garment such as the pant leg or skirt. In the case of a trouser or pant, the cut portion extends from the lower edge of the waistband immediately behind the pocket to a length extending to the bottom of the pocket. A selected end of the elongated section joining the opposite ends of the waistband is provided with a snap fastener so that the waist may be narrowed by selecting alignment of mating snaps and the waist may be expanded additionally by unfolding the tucked or folded portion so as to permit expansion of the upper part of the garment body.

United States Patent 91 Tornberg I GARMENT HAVING AN EXPANDABLE WAIST[76] Inventor: William Tornberg, 8540 Willis Ave., No. 9, Panorama City,Calif, 91402 [22] Filed: Aug. 13, 1973 [21] App]. No.: 387,954

[52] US. Cl. 2/237 .1451 x Oct. 8, 1974 Primary Examiner-11. HamptonHunter Attorney, Agent, or FirmRoger A. Marrs [57 ABSTRACT An expandablewaist construction is disclosed herein for a garment such as a pant,trouser, skirt, or the like which includes a waistband having anelongated section joining the opposite ends of the band and a folded orcut portion joining the opposite edges of the main body of the. garmentsuch as the pant leg or skirt. In

1 the case of a trouser or-pant, the cut portion extends from the loweredge of the waistband immediately behind the pocket to a lengthextending to the bottom of the pocket. A selected end of the elongatedsection joining the opposite ends of the waistband is provided with asnap fastener so that the waist may be narrowed by selecting alignmentof mating snaps and the waist may be expanded additionally by unfoldingthe" tucked or folded portion so as to permit expansion of the upperpart of the garment body 1 Claim, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTED OCT 8 I974SHEET 10F 2 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Thepresent invention relates to garments having expandable waist devicesand, more particularly, to a novel expandable waist permitting thegarment to be adjusted in waistband size so as to provide a normal lookof garment construction denoting proper tailoring and sizing.

2. Brief Description of the Prior Art In the past, the waist portion ofa variety of garments such as skirts, pants and trousers have employed avariety of expandable materials of elastic character to provideadjustment for varying the garment waist size. Also, a plurality ofbuttons, snaps and other mechanical devices have been employed fornarrowing or widening the waistband. Although these devices are somewhatsuccessful for their intended purpose of providing expansion for thewaistband, difficulties and problems have been encountered which stemlargely from the fact that only the size of the band is adjusted and themain body of the garment is left unchanged.

Furthermore, conventional waistband constructions which permitalterations generally include bulky fasteners, zippers and other deviceswhich detract from the overall tailored look of the garment.

Therefore, a long standing need has existed to provide a novel waistbandconstruction for garments that will permit alterations to larger orsmaller sizes which will maintain the tailored look of the garment andyet provide additional material for such alterations. The additionalmaterial need not be taken from the garment seam or hem as is thecustomary practice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the above difficulties andproblems are obviated by the present invention which provides a novelmeans for altering garment waistbands that includes a waist constructionhaving the opposite ends of a conventional waistband joined by anelongated section wherein the section is attached to a selected end ofthe waistband by a suitable fastening means. Immediately below thewaistband and lying along the seam or hemline of the garment is a tuckedor folded portion of material suitable for providing additional materialto the body of the garment in the event the garment is to be altered ,soas to expand or extend the waistband. Preferably, the tucked or foldedportion of material is immediately behind the pocket of the garment sothat a completely tailored look is provided. to the garment afteralterations.

Therefore, it is among the primary objects of the present invention toprovide a novel waistband construction for a garment permitting thewaist of the garment to be altered so as to maintain and prevent a natural or tailored look.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel waistbandconstruction permitting alteration by including a tucked or foldedportion of material immediately below the waistband and immediatelybehind the pockets.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a novelwaistband construction permitting alterations which includes additionalgarment material tucked or folded in a selected portion of the garmentaway from the seat or rear of the garment so as to not interfere withwearing comfort.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a novel andunique means for altering the waistband of a garment by simply expandingthe waistband and the garment body portion attendant thereto withoutmajor altering of the garment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The features of the present inventionwhich are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in theappended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization andmanner of operation, together with further objects and advantagesthereof, may best be understood by reference to the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a trouser incorporating the novelwaistband construction of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the expandable waistconstruction'of the present invention as taken in the direction ofarrows 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of the waistband construction shown in FIG.2 with the waistband expanded or altered;

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the waistband construction of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the waistband construction prior toalteration;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to the view shown in FIG. 5 after alteration ofthe waistband construction;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view of the joining waistband sections taken inthe direction of arrows 7--7 of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to the view of FIG. 7 showing the waistbandconstruction after alteration as indicated in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the construction as takenin the direction of arrows 99 in FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, a pair oftrousers is indicated in the general direction of arrow 10 having a pairof legs 11 and 12 and a waistband 13. It is noted that the leg 11includes an outside seam l4 and a pocket indicated in general by thenumeral 15. The opposite ends of the waistband 13 are joined together byan elongated section 16.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the garment as fabricated includes thewaistband construction wherein one end of section 16 is secured to oneend of waistband 13 while the opposite end of section 16 is detachablyse cured to the opposite end of waistband 13 by means of snap fastenersindicated by numeral 17. Immediately behind the pocket 15 and along theseam 14 immediately below waistband 13 with section 16, there isprovided a folded or tucked portion of material indicated in general bynumeral 20 which'may be'considered excess material for use when it isdesired to expand or alter the waistband construction to a larger size.For purpose of discussion, the manufactured size is indicated by theletter D denoting a fixed dimension between seam 14 and the end of pantleg 11 terminating in the fly 21. It is also to be noted that the pocket15 includes an upper portion 22 and a lower portion 23 which combine todefine the rear or back side of the pocket. The front side of the pocketforms a continuous extension of leg 11 and is provided with a selectedcut or shape as indicatecLlay. the edge 24 that defines an opening intothe pocket between the back side of the leg 11 and the opposing side ofthe combined pieces 22 and 23.

As shown in FIG. 3, the waistband construction has been altered so as toenlarge the waistband size to the dimension indicated by the arrow D Inthis latter instance, the folded or tucked material 20 has been expandedto allow for the desired increase whereby the fold line 25 iscoextensive with the seam line 14.

Referring now in detail to FIG. 4, an exploded view of the waistbandconstruction is illustrated whereby it can be seen that the folded ortucked material 20 provides an excess intended to make up for theexpansion whenthe garment is altered to increase the dimension or sizeof the waistband 13. It is to be noted that one edge of the foldedmaterial 20is secured along the seam 14 on one half of the pant leg 11while the other edge of the material is sewn to the edge 14 on theopposite half of the leg 11. Also, it is to be understood that when thematerial is folded, fold 25 is hidden behind the pocket 15 while, whenthe band construction is expanded, fold 25 will lie coextensively withseam 14. It is to be understood that seam 14 comprises seam 14' and thatleg vl1 also includes leg half 11'.

Referring now to FIG. in detail, it can be seen that the waistbandconstruction is in its'normally tailored sized condition prior toalterations to expand the waistband. Again, it can be seen that thefolded or tucked portion 20 is behind the pocket and particularly behindthe rear portion comprised of pieces 22 and 23. The section 16 joins theopposite ends of belt or waist band 13 and one end of the band orsection 16 is doubled over and fastened by snap fasteners to the end'ofwaistband 13. It is also seen that the band 13 includes snap fasteners27 that may be selectively engaged with mating fasteners 28 for closingthe garment about the waist of the person.

In FIG. 6, the waistband construction has been expanded substantially asshown in FIG. 3 wherein the material has been unfolded so that thefoldline is exposed and is in coextensive relationship with seam l4.

In FIG. 7, the snap fastener relationship between the section 16 and theband 13 is illustrated when the waistband constuction has not beenaltered or expanded, such as shown in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 8, the position of snaps 17 and the lengthen ing of section 16is illustrated when the belt construction has been expanded as shown inFIG. 6.

Referring now in detail to FIG. 9, it can be seen that the foldedmaterialor portion 20 lies immediately behind the pocket and that theband 13 is secured thereto by its edge adjacent to the upper edge of thefolded material. The opposing vertical edges of the folded material aresewn to the seam associated with leg portions' 11 and 11 so that thecombined seam 14 is produced as a coextension thereof.

In view of the foregoing, it can be seen that the novel waistbandconstruction of the presentinvention permits alteration to larger sizesby separating waistband 13 by means of detaching fasteners 17 andpermitting the waistband to expand and then resnapping the fastenersafter the section 16 has been elongated and the material 20 unfolded.When the construction has been so altered, a neat and tailoredappearance is provided which is identical to the original constructionso that no noticeable alteration appears. Furthermore, by providing theexcess material along the seam line 14, the material is not awkward anddoes not interfere with the usage of the wearer such as is conventionalpractice in providing excessive materials along the seat seam. Also, nothread lines are visible in the excessive material and no threads needbe removed as is the conventional practice.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatchanges and modifications may be made without departing fromthisinvention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the aim in the appendedclaims is to cover all such channges and modifications as fall withinthe true spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a waist band construction for altering the waist size of a garmentcomprising:

a waist band;

an elongated waist section having its opposite end engaged with theopposite and opposing ends of said waistband so as to define anencircling, continuous band;

said gannent having a main body composed of a pair of halves joined toprovide a seam along the side of said garment;

a portion of excess material folded over upon itself when in itsnon-altered condition and the opposite edges of said excess materialsecured to adjacent edges of said seam so as to be co-extensivetherewith;

releasable fastener means detachably securing said waist section at oneend to said waist band;

said releasable fastener means being snap fasteners in registry forjoining said section and said waist band together;

said garment including a pocket defined by a back material part and afront part wherein the rearmost edge of said parts are joined togetherin common with the seam and the fold line of said excess material;

said excess material being V-shaped withtapering side edges convergingto meet with said seam; and

said waist band, said waist section, said excess material and saidpocket are over-lapped so as to be substantially flat in a unitaryconstruction whereby said excess material is hidden from sight andavailable for use when desired to expand the waist measurement.

1. In a waist band construction for altering the waist size of a garmentcomprising: a waist band; an elongated waist section having its oppositeend engaged with the opposite and opposing ends of said waist band so asto define an encircling, continuous band; said garment having a mainbody composed of a pair of halves joined to provide a seam along theside of said garment; a portion of excess material folded over uponitself when in its non-altered condition and the opposite edges of saidexcess material secured to adjacent edges of said seam so as to becoextensive therewith; releasable fastener means detachably securingsaid waist section at one end to said waist band; said releasablefastener means being snap fasteners in registry for joining said sectionand said waist band together; said garment including a pocket defined bya back material part and a front part wherein the rearmost edge of saidparts are joined together in common with the seam and the fold line ofsaid excess material; said excess material being V-shaped with taperingside edges converging to meet with said seam; and said waist band, saidwaist section, said excess material and said pocket are over-lapped soas to be substantially flat in a unitary construction whereby saidexcess material is hidden from sight and available for use when desiredto expand the waist measurement.